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Bruins embrace their role in Boston's recovery

WILMINGTON -- Andrew Ference had gone home after Monday’s morning skate knowing that he was going to be a healthy scratch that night against the Senators. Claude Julien was set on resting his players one by one in the final couple weeks of the regular season, so Ference seemed to have a pretty easy night ahead of him in the TD Garden press box ... until he got a call from his wife, Krista.

Ference wasn’t watching television, but he knew his wife and daughters (ages seven and four) were going to the Boston Marathon, as they have every year since Ference came to the Bruins in 2007. They were going to watch at Towne on Boylston Street, where "You Can Play" was hosting a fundraiser -- founder Patrick Burke ran the marathon to raise money for athlete equality organization.

Along the way, the three Ference girls stopped at a friend’s house, and then Boston Common so the daughters could play. It was as they were on their way down Boylston that they heard the explosions.

“[Krista] called me and was like 'What's going on?' I didn't have the TV on, so I just went and turned it on and just used FaceTime [to talk to them]," Ference recalled Tuesday.

Ference had friends standing “just a couple meters away,” and also had an Army Ranger friend running in the race.

"[He had] just finished the race and he was tying tourniquets, he said, within a minute. He was pretty disturbed [by it]. The last time he was deployed, one of his friends got hit, so it brought back some bad memories."

Lives were lost Monday as a city was terrorized. The Bruins and hockey shouldn’t be in the front of peoples’ minds, but they inevitably will be.

From people rallying around the Yankees in 2001 to fans embracing the Saints after Hurricane Katrina, teams have helped cities cope with unfathomable circumstances. It may not make sense in the grand scheme of things, but if the Bruins can help people as they enter the playoffs, they’ll gladly take that responsibility.

“It's always nice to have something to believe in,” Brad Marchand said. “If we can get people's minds off what happened, even if for a few hours. Basically play for our city, that's what we have to do.”

Jay Pandolfo grew up in Burlington before attending Boston University. He had to experience September 11 up close and personal, as he was entering his sixth season with the Devils when the terrorist attacks took place.

Pandolfo recalled the difficulty of dealing with what happened in the wake of that tragic event, but to experience something like this in his hometown is something he could have never seen coming.

“Growing up, you never thought you'd ever have to worry about something like this,” Pandolfo said. “For it to happen once, back on 9/11 -- which was something you thought you'd never see -- and then for something like this to happen again, it's shocking.”

Added Pandolfo: “It's always an exciting day in Boston. You have the Red Sox game, you have the marathon and people, students from around the schools. Everyone comes down and has a good time. To think that you have to worry going to do that is a pretty bad feeling.”

On Tuesday, the Bruins, who have been cautious about rest this late in the season, practiced for over an hour and a half. They did it “with heavy hearts,” Julien said, but as they gear up for the last seven games of the season, they’re not just feeling the responsibility of a playoff race. They want to give their city a something to look forward to.

“I mean, hopefully it can take people’s minds off things that happened yesterday at least for a few hours and give them a little bit of a sense of relief to maybe watch us go out and give a good effort,” Shawn Thornton said. “There’s not much else we can do. We can focus on playing. I’m sure we’ll start doing some things to try to give back what we can. But as far as playing the game, all we can do is focus on showing up and giving as good an effort as we can.”

Of course, the Bruins have more responsibilities than to show up and play. They have families and young children. Ference said it’s difficult to try to explain something like Monday’s events to his seven-year old. He’ll try by taking his Ranger friend out to dinner with his family.

"My buddy that was down there helping out, I think we're going out for dinner tonight. It's something where you can show her, here are the good people. There are a lot of heroes and a lot of good people that were helping out, obviously. It's tough. What do you say to kids [after that]?"

Athletes always talk about controlling what they can control. It’s a cliché that’s used by players as they deal with decreased playing time, teams nipping at their heels in the standings or any other type of difficulty.

Now more than ever, controlling what they can control matters big-time. The Bruins don’t know what the future holds for the city of Boston as it recovers. But they do know that any happy distraction they can provide would be welcome.

“We represent the city of Boston,” Julien said. “We want to make sure we represent them well. All you can do is give it all you got. That's basically all you can do, and whether it gives a little bit of joy or excitement to some people, it's going to take a while to heal from this. We don't expect tomorrow to be the day that everything's going to be OK, but you've got to start somewhere. I think tomorrow is a great time for us to play our hearts out for all the right reasons.”

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